ML did a good job with geting actors and actresses that looked like them.

I can't say I feel this is true, but I don't know how anyone could cast a girl with blonde hair as Laura. I loved the actress' portrayal, but Laura was so jealous of Mary's hair that it really was odd to see a Laura with blonde hair.

Vanesa wrote:

Yes! Laura was so jealous of Mary that she even got spanked by Pa because she stroke Mary for a quarrel they had about this issue...And in the movie "Beyond the Prairie", we have a blond Laura again...and a REDHEAD Mary...

Vanesa.

Davetucson wrote:

Get past the details and judge the story content........well written story!

Welllllll....think about it this way, Dave: If they made a movie based on the life of Matthew Laborteaux, how would his most ardent fans feel if the movie starred a blonde-haired, blue-eyed little boy? The details are important to those who care about the specific person about whom the movie is being made. However, I do agree with you that the overall story was well-written.

You are 100% right! BUT, all I am saying is, don't condemn an entire production on small details. The story itself was well written in my opinion and had the feel of Little House. And you are right about another point. We all have our favorite characters, and we are all touchy about how they are portrayed. You are dead on about how I would have reacted to a blonde headed Albert. You know very well who my favorite character is.

If the blonde thing would have happened with Albert, I would have probably thrown the DVD away!

The opinion about Laura's hair is a valid one. It should have been red for sure........I've had a problem with Laura ever since I read Gilbert's bio. I need to separate the character from the actor, and I am working on it.

You are a voice of reason Lisa........

"Albert, do you REALLY think you are old enough to know what love is?" "I must be Pa. I love you, I have for a long time."

You are 100% right! BUT, all I am saying is, don't condemn an entire production on small details. The story itself was well written in my opinion and had the feel of Little House. And you are right about another point. We all have our favorite characters, and we are all touchy about how they are portrayed. You are dead on about how I would have reacted to a blonde headed Albert. You know very well who my favorite character is.

If the blonde thing would have happened with Albert, I would have probably thrown the DVD away!

The opinion about Laura's hair is a valid one. It should have been red for sure........I've had a problem with Laura ever since I read Gilbert's bio. I need to separate the character from the actor, and I am working on it.

You are a voice of reason Lisa........

Pf course I'll not condemn a whole production because one or two little small details...But if the movie is a BIG deal of mistakes, made of a lot of little details, I'll think about it, for sure.

I've spoken about Laura's hair color, for in the books she mentionned how much she felt mortified and hurt when other persons would said how lovely Mary blonde curls were. Both sister even quarreled about the whole thing. In "Little HOuse in the Bof Woods", Mary even said that persons with blonde hair were prettier than others, so, one og their aunts loved much more Mary's appareance than Laura...and of course, little pest Laura just slapped Mary, and she must suffer a spanking by Pa. Then, Pa explained that persons who are not blonde could be pretty too, and he just asked Laura how hair and beard colour he had...and Lauira realized it was brown...just like its own hair. So , she didn't think brown hair was so bad, after all.

You are 100% right! BUT, all I am saying is, don't condemn an entire production on small details. The story itself was well written in my opinion and had the feel of Little House. And you are right about another point. We all have our favorite characters, and we are all touchy about how they are portrayed. You are dead on about how I would have reacted to a blonde headed Albert. You know very well who my favorite character is.

If the blonde thing would have happened with Albert, I would have probably thrown the DVD away!

The opinion about Laura's hair is a valid one. It should have been red for sure........I've had a problem with Laura ever since I read Gilbert's bio. I need to separate the character from the actor, and I am working on it.

You are a voice of reason Lisa........

Pf course I'll not condemn a whole production because one or two little small details...But if the movie is a BIG deal of mistakes, made of a lot of little details, I'll think about it, for sure.

I've spoken about Laura's hair color, for in the books she mentionned how much she felt mortified and hurt when other persons would said how lovely Mary blonde curls were. Both sister even quarreled about the whole thing. In "Little HOuse in the Bof Woods", Mary even said that persons with blonde hair were prettier than others, so, one og their aunts loved much more Mary's appareance than Laura...and of course, little pest Laura just slapped Mary, and she must suffer a spanking by Pa. Then, Pa explained that persons who are not blonde could be pretty too, and he just asked Laura how hair and beard colour he had...and Lauira realized it was brown...just like its own hair. So , she didn't think brown hair was so bad, after all.

Vanesa.

Exactly. If it wasn't so much a part of the books, it could easily be overlooked. But it was. Laura got so angry she actually slapped her sister. Mary's blonde hair was a sore spot for Laura, so even if they used the same actress, her hair color should have been changed to brown.

Well, I just watched the newer-remake movie of LHOP. There's a Saturday I'll never get back. How awful!

It tries to stick more closely to the original book, but it plods, it tries to include every...single...thing...that...happened...in...excrutiating...detail! Ok, let's spend 5 minutes with trick photography on the Indians, let's spend 10 minutes having Charles go to Independance to argue with the land office, let's spend another 10 minutes saying goodbye, (which couldn't hold a candle to ML's ending). Cheesy music too.

The cast wasn't that good either. Laura seemed way too bratty, not spunky, but bratty. You can almost hear her say, "Please, you're embarrasing me, don't let my friends at the mall see you with me!" Caroline with her long hair down all the time, on the open prairie, doing all that hard work? And hello, sunbonnets anyone??? And Charles, he seemed a little on the cold side, even mean sometimes. In the books he always doted on his girls, this guy is like pulling teeth getting him to even play the fiddle. The real Charles played the fiddle unless it was summer, and he was too tired from farm work. Mr Edwards was kinda ok, but by then, I was soured on the whole movie. You didn't just adore him at the start, like Victor French's Mr Edwards. The rough, but endearing man charmed by a little pioneer girl.

I respect Laura Ingalls Wilder's book for what they are, American literature. The story of a pioneer family that goes out west, all told through the eyes of a young pioneer girl. If the 70s pilot movie and series tried to follow the books we'd have a one-season wonder. By letting Michael Landon follow his vision for the show, it's not historically accurate in the least, but we have a legend we're still talking about 35 years later. I'll take that compromise.

Anybody agree or disagree with me? I got my flame-proof suit on! Shame there isn't much talk around here anymore.

Rob, that's it, it's doesn't have that heartwarming-ness to it. The three major heartwarming moments in the movie, saying goodbye to relatives and starting out, Jack almost drowning and then him finding his way back, and the ending, this movie didn't do it at all. It was like, "What's that noise, oh, it's Jack, he's back, cool."

But the skunk-skinned adorned Indians, let's showcase them!

Michael Landon could reach deep down into the emotions, he was the master at that.

Complain, Complain, Complain! Disney tries to copy Michael and they can't! Even Cheryl jumps on the bandwagon about those books! Let's compare them character by character! Then we can have a real discussion!

There was Carolyn! But what happened to the bonnet?And then there was Charles! he did have a beard in real life, but I liked Mike better! And Half Pint with blonde hair! Blasphemy!Well, at least they got the blue eyes right with Mary!And Jack! Looks like a straggly Bandit to me!And Mr. Edwards! looked like he was bulimic!All in All! No comparison!!And here's another little unrelated tidbit! What in the heck was Mrs. Foster doing in the Big Woods before Charles and Caroline left?They didn't even have a post office!

Cheryl knows what the real problem was with this Disney thing! They could have found him in the first town they stopped at and dragged him along! Just kidding you Cheryl! Happy New Year!

"Albert, do you REALLY think you are old enough to know what love is?" "I must be Pa. I love you, I have for a long time."

Last edited by Davetucson on Sun Dec 29, 2013 11:57 am; edited 2 times in total

That IS a great review and I completely agree with you, 'bestshowever'. Like Rob, it has been years since I've seen this too, but I remember watching it and appreciating 'our' series so much more, after seeing it. I did appreciate the 'realism' it took on, for a mini-series...it gave something for those fans of the books to really cling on to. (With the exception of some of the important character details). But like you, I didn't care for Laura's personality, and more than anything, I just remember the actual filming (as others said earlier in this thread) being so shaky/shifty that I felt nauseous.

I just watched an interview the other day with Karen Grassle. She describes her view of the 70's series perfectly, and her reaction as she started getting settled into the series and ML's vision....."Oh, this is "Let's PRETEND on the prairie!" And that's exactly it. For the most part, you are not going to find the 'gritty' storytelling of the everyday pioneer hardships that the mini-series took on. Again, I think it's neat that they did it, actually, and aside from the crazy filming technique, I enjoyed it for 'what it was'. But I completely agree that if Michael Landon had taken this approach with 'his' series, it would have lasted 1 season, 2 at the most. Thank goodness (and thank Michael Landon!!) that we have, as you said, the "Let's pretend on the prairie" series that has us talking about and watching decades later.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with greatlove.”

I was thinking, "if someone had a mind to", they could make a PBS-type documentary of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and keep it historical. It's a documentary right? That way, it's true to the book, and takes Mike out of the picture entirely.

Who were the Ingalls, show family trees. Where did they live in the "Big Woods" of Wisconsin, what was it like? What did they take in the wagon when they started off? Those things were small and the things they had back then were bulky! Reenactors can show how to start a homestead, on the open prairies. How did they plow a field when it's tough grassland, with roots that seem like nothing but a massive tangle. Who were the people they met at each town they moved to? Plum Creek/Walnut Grove/De Smet?

I remember one of the books talking about how they sewed women's clothes, very intricate laces, and such. How do you work those old, cast iron stoves? How do you bake a vinegar pie, cook on a two log fire, and keep checking it till it's done? That's good documentary stuff.

Since Almonzo Wilder is definitely part of the story, who were the Wilders? How did they come to Dakota Territory? Laura and Almanzo took their own covered wagon journey to a new land. Where did they go?

Since PBS has plenty of American pioneer shows, this could be tied to American authors.

(Maybe they can get Jack's breed right, he was a brindle-colored bulldog!)

Thanks for the discussion. Geez I'm bored. One more week till school starts again.

Dean Butler's production company put together a LIW documentary that showed during a PBS pledge drive a year or so ago. It used to be available for purchase from his company's website, but I don't see it there now.